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First four companies selected to participate in the German Accelerator Life Sciences program in Cambridge

During the 34th JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, the German Accelerator Life Sciences (GALS) announced the first four companies to participate in its Cambridge-based program. AYOXXA Biosystems, PEPperPRINT, Personal MedSystems, and Sonormed will receive support tailored towards the specific needs of each company for up to 12 months.The scope of these young German companies ranges from treating tinnitus patients with filtered music and preventing stroke via a mobile ECG app to novel platform technologies for medical research and diagnostics.

Germany has a long-standing reputation for life science innovation. However, most pharmaceutical and biotech companies are now headquartered in the U.S., and significantly more digital health solutions are developed in Silicon Valley and Boston than in Berlin or Munich. The German Accelerator Life Sciences (GALS) is part of a broader initiative of the German government to foster high-tech innovation and life science entrepreneurship in Germany. “Our goal is to help build success stories that will motivate entrepreneurs, investors, and the general public to believe in Germany’s future as a global leader in medical innovation. We are excited to partner with these four cool companies with the potential to build flagships for the German life science ecosystem,” says Christoph Lengauer, CEO of GALS.

Andreas Schmidt, CEO of AYOXXA, shared his company’s excitement to participate during his presentation at the JP Morgan reception hosted by the German Consulate General in San Francisco, CA: “We just started to promote our LUNARIS™ protein multiplexing technology in the U.S. and expect to achieve our market penetration goals much faster with the support of GALS. Working with highly experienced GALS mentors and advisors can open new doors for us and will help AYOXXA better understand the U.S. market and investor base.”

GALS selects companies based on their potential to perform well in the global market. It can be difficult for German entrepreneurs to understand how to do business in the U.S., especially in life sciences. During his speech at the reception, Christoph Lengauer stated that: “Some technologies and business models have a much better chance in the U.S. than in Germany or Europe. Digital health might be a prime example. While Europe seems still hesitant, the U.S. is embracing healthcare’s digital future.” Jörg Land, CEO of Sonormed, states: “In our home market, we have already achieved much, but we find that the establishment of structures for digital health products requires patience. The U.S. market is characterized by a wide acceptance for new technologies and high speed implementation, and thus provides opportunities for our company. GALS provides critical support for us when it comes to taking the next step and tackling U.S. market entry out of Boston.”

Interestingly, all four selected companies are portfolio companies of the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Germany’s most active and leading seed stage investor. Michael Brandkamp, Managing Director of HTGF, commented on the participation of these companies stating; “We are very excited about the success of our portfolio companies in this highly competitive application process. HTGF has supported GALS during its planning and setup phase and is now looking forward to see our companies succeed in the U.S. market.”

About the first GALS companiesAYOXXA Biosystems has invented a technology platform to analyze very low amounts of multiple protein biomarkers in biological samples, simultaneously and with high precision. Its LUNARIS™ BioChips will innovate proteome research in biomedicine, pharmacological screening, and preclinical diagnostics development. Core to the cutting-edge technology is a bead-based method that yields 10,000-fold more data points than a standard immunoassay. AYOXXA Biosystems GmbH is an international biotech company based in Cologne (Germany), Singapore, and now Boston. More: http://www.ayoxxa.com/

PEPperPRINT is a young and innovative biotech company based in Heidelberg, Germany. The company owns a proprietary laser printing technology that enables the generation of high density peptide microarrays in a uniquely fast, flexible, and high quality manner. PEPperPRINT provides custom and standard peptide microarrays as well as analytical and screening services like epitope mapping, serum antibody profiling, biomarker discovery, vaccine development, or peptide target binder discovery. In addition to its technological leadership, PEPperPRINT is ISO 9001 certified and already working with 9 of the top 10 pharma companies. More: http://www.pepperprint.com/

Personal MedSystems is a pioneer in digital health that develops mobile diagnostic devices to enable the delivery of mobile healthcare. Its CardioSecur product portfolio comprises mobile and innovative ECG technologies that allow both patients and physicians to perform instant heart checks wherever they are. CardioSecur is the first and only mobile 22-lead ECG system with only 4 electrodes easy to use for physicians and patients. Personal MedSystems has locations in Berlin and Frankfurt, Germany. More: http://www.cardiosecur.com/

Sonormed is a medical technology company with a focus on Digital Audiology and was founded 2012 in Hamburg, Germany. Its interdisciplinary team of sound engineers, computer scientists, and neurobiologists developed and distributes the certified medical product Tinnitracks. Tinnitracks is a neuro-acoustic treatment option for tinnitus patients available as smartphone and web app. It filters patients’ individual tinnitus frequency in a complex process from their favorite music songs thus providing a reliable, tailored access to a tinnitus therapy that is neuro-scientifically validated. Since September 2015 Techniker Krankenkasse, the largest German statutory health insurance, covers the costs for Tinnitracks. More: http://www.tinnitracks.com/en

About the German Accelerator Life SciencesThe German Accelerator Life Sciences (GALS) is a new initiative that helps German life science startups and young companies to succeed in the global market. Support provided by GALS ranges from free office space in the world’s most dynamic life science innovation hub to mentoring and consulting by industry experts and accomplished leaders. GALS was launched in October 2015 and is located in Cambridge, MA. Visit the website for more information. Application is open, companies are selected on a monthly basis.

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann, and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR576M under management in two funds (EUR272M HTGF I, EUR304M HTGF II).